Suspension of sick pay

FBaby

If you sign off sick with a painful bad back that prevents you from working, especially if it's a desk job, and then are seen playing rugby, then the evidence is pretty water tight.

The problem with stress is that it is much more difficult to question and so much more open to being abused as a reason to be off for month with full pay.

There is the argument, which you predictably put forward, that is that it is work that bring in the state of stress and that any activity that helps in reducing says level of stress is going to be positive therapy.

Maybe their argument is going to be that with this level of engagement in activities aimed at reducing their stress levels, they should have been fit to come back to work sooner?

Unfortunately, your friend is probably the one they've picked to show an example of the increasing number of people who use stress as an easy way to abuse the very generous public sector sick pay, and rightly so. If they've done nothing wrong, and indeed can defend themselves that they continue to be too stress to go back to work, then they have nothing to worry about.

TELLIT01

FBaby wrote: »

Unfortunately, your friend is probably the one they've picked to show an example of the increasing number of people who use stress as an easy way to abuse the very generous public sector sick pay, and rightly so. If they've done nothing wrong, and indeed can defend themselves that they continue to be too stress to go back to work, then they have nothing to worry about.

Very, very unlikely that they are being picked on in order to make an example of them. There needs to be very strong evidence of some form or wrongdoing for a public sector organisation to take this sort of action. The fallout if they have got it wrong would be massive, and in all honesty, simply not worth the hassle.

andygb

sangie595 wrote: »

Stress can be faked. Easily. I'd guess any regular on these boards could do a professional job of faking it without a second thought if they wanted to.

I totally agree with this, but as someone who suffered from severe depression (side effect of another physical condition), I can tell the OP, that when I was ill, I didn't want to go out of the house or meet anyone. The last thing I wanted to do was socialise or go out and have fun/go on holiday. Being stressed/depressed puts you on edge nearly all the time.
If the OP's friend is going out socialising, maybe away on holiday, then there is a possibility that he isn't at all stressed.
Maybe he just needs to change jobs?

sangie595

I think there's a valid point in there. What someone describes as work related stress may not be the same thing as really being sick - more sick of work than anything! It may be quite genuine, but it isn't the same thing as being unable to work due to sickness.

Wookey

With social media evidence all it takes is one "work colleague" to tip of HR that someone may not be genuinely of with sick leave and with the ease of screen shots and forwarding such photos it's all to easy to get snared. I know of someone whose boss found out that they went of on holidays whilst claiming being unable to work due to being sick, the boss went to the airport to meet them coming of the plane.

Gavin83

I'm far from an expert on stress but I always thought holidays and socialising were considered good ways to reduce stress and therefore actively encouraged while on leave for stress related reasons? A couple of weeks on a sunny beach would do a lot to alliviate my stress!

It could be they have strong evidence, it could be that HR have jumped the gun. Impossible to say without knowing what he put on Facebook. They wouldn't be the first HR department to get overzealous.

However as others have said ultimately they don't believe him and that is a problem. I suspect there's a lot that hasn't been said here.

I've known people who have taken genuine stress leave and others who are clearly taking the pee. What they do with their time off matters not. Has he actually got a real genuine reason for being stressed or is he milking it a little? It's amazing for example how many people need to go off on stress when they're in trouble at work.

sangie595

Wookey wrote: »

With social media evidence all it takes is one "work colleague" to tip of HR that someone may not be genuinely of with sick leave and with the ease of screen shots and forwarding such photos it's all to easy to get snared. I know of someone whose boss found out that they went of on holidays whilst claiming being unable to work due to being sick, the boss went to the airport to meet them coming of the plane.

I keep telling people, and nobody listens, but I can confidently say that social media figures somewhere in about 80% of the cases that come across my desk now. For lay reps, the figure is even higher - a case which doesn't somehow involve social media is now very rare. And it is almost always a "friend" or a relative who has turned the person in. It always makes me laugh when people are being coy on here about what has happened to them, because employers really don't go searching for information the way people think. They don't need to because you've probably friended them somewhere already! By the time you get here, it's too late and they don't need to read what you say. Employers don't have time to scour websites on the off chance of recognising a particular employee,

k3lvc

Gavin83 wrote: »

I'm far from an expert on stress but I always thought holidays and socialising were considered good ways to reduce stress and therefore actively encouraged while on leave for stress related reasons? A couple of weeks on a sunny beach would do a lot to alliviate my stress!

It could be they have strong evidence, it could be that HR have jumped the gun. Impossible to say without knowing what he put on Facebook. They wouldn't be the first HR department to get overzealous.

However as others have said ultimately they don't believe him and that is a problem. I suspect there's a lot that hasn't been said here.

I've known people who have taken genuine stress leave and others who are clearly taking the pee. What they do with their time off matters not. Has he actually got a real genuine reason for being stressed or is he milking it a little? It's amazing for example how many people need to go off on stress when they're in trouble at work.

I had a period of ansence for work related stress some years ago - I was supported heavily by Occupational Health much to the dismay of HR and was actually encouraged by them to take a holiday before returning to work (and to book a follow up break within 3 months of return to work). It triggered a whole load of guilt knowing that others would judge but was pre-empted in my return to work announcement and reasoning explained.


That said I've since seen plenty who've played the stress card, refused the Occupational Health support and still managed a holiday during their month off

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Nual wrote: »

I used to manage this person and I do not believe he is faking the stress.He had a lot of shortcomings but was hardworking and very keen to do the right thing. Since I left he has been put into an impossible role which does not suit his skill set or personality.

Surely in this position you should tell the employer you can't do the job and then ask if they have something more suitable (presumably with lower pay) or find something elsewhere that you can manage. Not go off sick with stress.

TELLIT01

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

Surely in this position you should tell the employer you can't do the job and then ask if they have something more suitable (presumably with lower pay) or find something elsewhere that you can manage. Not go off sick with stress.

In the public sector that is not always an option, probably true of the private sector too. I know many people believe that Civil Servants have an easy life, but I can tell you from personal experience that is not true. I worked in the private sector most of my life and was never treated as badly as in the years I worked for DWP. Arbitrary decisions taken on high to increase workload to levels where it was impossible to do the job with any level of care or accuracy was the main problem. Some people, myself included, could adapt to the requirement of 'Get the work through and don't worry about accuracy' whilst others simply couldn't. One lady I worked with was off for a while with work related stress and she told me that she was physically sick as soon as she saw the building, when she attempted to return to work. She was an ex copper so not a person unused to stressful work.